Envision a world where every car in sight is a hot rod or street machine and you've pictured life on the HOT ROD Power Tour(r). An explanation for those of you who've not left your hovels for 15 years: HOT ROD maps a road trip through seven cities and sets up party stops every night, title sponsor GM Performance Division makes it happen, and 3,000 to 4,000 cars join us each day to live the dream.

This year, the route took us on a 1,370-mile trek from the Kickoff Party hosted by Painless Performance in Newton, Iowa, to the Surf City Garage party in Mobile, Alabama, June 5-12. An amazing 4,850 cars and an estimated 76,500 spectators participated during the week, and 2,570 people in 1,512 cars went all the way to become official Long Haulers(tm). Did any of that junk break down along the way? You bet. The GM Performance Division Motor Medics wrenched on 105 cars at the cruise nights and supplied hundreds more parts and answers, and there were countless roadside repairs handled by gangs of hot rodders pitching in to help newfound friends.

The badge of honor from Power Tour(r) is braving that risk of breakage and road rash to make the journey, and the reward is discovering backwoods America, participating in an event like no other, creating a new gearhead family, and knowing you're one of the folks who really uses a project car instead of just talking about it.

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Without further proselytizing, we present these 20 pages of cars that hit the road and (mostly) won. Get far more coverage at HOTROD.com/2010/PowerTour/.

THE '10 POWER TOUR BLITZKRIEG

DATE

CITY

VENUE

HOST

June 5

Newton, IA

Iowa Speedway

Painless Performance

June 6

Springfield, IL

Downtown Springfield

NAPA Auto Parts

June 7

DuQuoin, IL

DuQuoin State Fairgrounds

GM Performance Division

June 8

Bowling Green, KY

Warren County Airport

Holley

June 9

Chattanooga, TN

Chattanooga State Community College

Coker Tire

June 10

Birmingham, AL

Regions Park Stadium

Ridetech

June 11

Mobile, AL

Downtown Mobile

Surf City Garage

June 12

Mobile, AL

U.S.S.
Alabama

Remembering Jamey Anderson
Horribly, Jamey Anderson lost his life during Power Tour(r) in an on-road collision where a nonparticipant crossed the centerline and hit Jamey's '69 Camaro head on. His 15-year-old son, Dalton, was also in the car and is currently recuperating from critical injuries. This was a first for Power Tour(r) and stunning to everyone in attendance.

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Jamey was a CAD expert in civil engineering and founded his own firm in Florida in 1997. He was also a dedicated gearhead and drag racer. He left behind a large family, the most immediate of which is wife, Gail, son Dalton, and daughters Dakota, Stephanie, and Rachelle Ferguson Smith.

Contributions to assist the family may be made to Tree of Life Church Naples Inc., c/o The Anderson Family, 2132 Shadowlawn Dr., Naples, FL 34112.

Power Tour Challenge
At SEMA 2009, the HOT ROD staff had the bright idea to get some real show cars to prove their merit by joining us for the full length of the Power Tour(r), driving the cars every mile. We claimed we'd also award bonus points in the editors'-choice shootout if they would hit the chassis dyno, the dragstrip, and the autocross. Ridetech, a company that always promotes real drives and real automotive whippings, jumped up to sponsor the Challenge.

146/150The winner of the first-ever HOT ROD/Ridetech Power Tour(r) Challenge. Goolsby Customs in Bessemer, Alabama, built this '67 Chevelle for William Shores. The car carries no huge surprises, but is very well executed with its tri-power ZZ502, Tremec TKO trans, and full Roadster Shop chassis. The car won over the crowd and the editors because it was driven loud and hard every day, never saw a trailer, and competed in all the performance challenges, earning a narrow victory over the absurdity of the diesel Chevelle and the spectacular finish of the Magnuson roadster.

We invited 26 cars, and just 12 accepted. By the time we were getting ready to get on the plane, that number had dropped to 8. When we arrived, just five invitees had actually shown up. Then one had to leave mid-Tour, leaving just four cars braving the Challenge. Those four cars and their owners/builder/drivers deserve a round of applause for showing all the rest of them how it's supposed to be done. It's our hope that their deeds will shame more builders in to actually using their creations next year. Why build it if you can't drive it?

147/150Dennis Overholser of Painless Performance has been long known to Power Tour(r) participants as the good guy in the wiring biz and as the Kickoff Party sponsor. His latest creation is the Truckster, a roadster built from a '70s Ford pickup cab. The flathead is fed by one of the company's three-jug EFI units. Dennis drove the Truckster admirably but put it in the trailer during the big rain day and did not participate in the performance events.

Follow the competition to see how the first-ever Power Tour(r) Challenge shook out.